Eclipse
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Disclaimer: Don't own Marvel so don't own X-men.
//are thoughts **telepathic speech [You guys know the drill.]
I'd like to thank the following for their collaboration on this fic: Admiral,
Chaos, Dazzler, Discord, Evenstar, Jason Barnett, and PolkaDot.
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A figure moves quietly through foliage surrounding the darkened mansion. The figure stops at the outer tree line. A pale green light erupts from a device illuminating the figure's face revealing a young lady with Asian features. As she punches a series of numbers into the device her suit shimmers and stops.
/Well that should cut down on any snooping psi's or sensors in the neighborhood./
She rises from her crouch and continues on her way making sure to remain hidden in the shadows. She has a date and it wouldn't do to keep him waiting. Breaking out across the grounds at a quick sprint and begins to melt the windows fixture allowing her to yank it out. Stepping in she skulks down the hall toward the room of her date for the evening. She knows exactly what to expect as she enters the study. The old man would be there, sitting in his chair working real late. It would be much easier to just walk in there and fry him but she knows they'd pick up her mutant signature as soon as the fireworks started, so to speak.
/Tonight you die old man or at least you'd wish you had when I'm through./ With that thought she flings the door open startling the old man. Even though she quickly catches him in the chest with her knife he manages to trip the alarm before passing out.
/Damn. Cats outta the bag./
She begins running but stops as adamantium blast shields slam shut over the main exits and windows of the mansion. In a mad dash she heads down the elevators toward the hanger bay. Her mind whirls knowing who the first one to find her will be and wanting to avoid that confrontation.
As she enters the hanger three members of the X-Men in full battle gear meet her.
"Going somewhere bub!?" SNKKT Wolverine pops his claws.
/Great! He doesn't recognize me through the nightcloak./
"You gonna come along nicely or do we play rough, non." A kinetically charged card flares to life waiting to be released. Storm moves over flanking the hanger bay entrance with her awesome presence.
The intruder smiles as ebony plasma gathers around her hands. The energy continues to build as it creeps across the floor and up her body to collect at her hands. Through the sensory filter of the nightcloak the intruder replies, "It looks as though we have a standoff. There like isn't a chance you X-men are gonna let me just walk outta here is it?"
"I don't think so bub." Wolverine growls back.
"Well...let's get to it then."
Wolverine lunges at her but she dives to the side and blasts him into the wall. He rebounds shaking off the effects of the blast. He rounds on her lunging again this time the intruder is too slow. The intruder stumbles back falling into a crouch her hair draping over her face. The suit along her right arm has been slashed along with part of the controls for her nightcloak, which spits out a stray spark.
"You broke it you bought it bub." The intruder says as the nightcloak's masking program finally fails. The three X-men stare in shocked silence.
*What's happening down there? Have you caught the intruder?* Jean stops as she witnesses the scene through Storm's eyes. The intruder raises her head as they all look into the pale blue eyes of Jubilee.
"Did you guys miss me?"
"Jubilee?"
"Where have you been child?"
"Darlin what's going on?"
"I had to take some time to think and I learned a few new things about myself." She fires another ebony plasma burst scattering them.
"Gambit, I like the name Eclipse and it'd be good for your health if you'd learn to love it." A wicked smile crosses her face. "But enough of the small talk I've gotta get goin. Ciao." Without warning the Blackbird explodes knocking everyone to the floor.
"Ohhhh!!! De petite sure pack'n a whollop dees days non."
"I agree Gambit. Logan are you..."
"I'm fine!" Wolverine snarls before stalking out.
*Are you alright.*
*How's the Professor?*
*It's not good. The wound he received from the knife isn't bad. The problem is whatever Jubilee coated the knife in.*
Eclipse chuckled as she exited the mansion. She had used the explosion of the Blackbird to fade to invisibility, one of her newfound powers. No doubt they were worrying about the professor and wondering how she had been mind-controlled.
Now she had to get beyond the mansion's grounds so she could be teleported out. Jubilation Lee turned back briefly and laughed silently to herself as Wolverine came out to the porch smoking a cigar. She could almost see the tears in his eyes from the distance she was at. He was probably sobbing at the betrayal of his little girl.
*****
The man called Wolverine was deep in thought. The others were no doubt trying to figure out how Jubilee had been controlled, he wanted to know how she been turned.
He had seen so many betrayals, that he could feel in his bones which ones were real. Mariko, Jean, they betrayal had been sudden, overnight and they had been controlled.
Sabretooth and Sliver Fox, they had been separated from him for years. When they had come back, they had been different; they had been enemies. It wasn't like the X-men had just seen her last night. She had vanished when her years of planning the newest X-men team, the members of GenX, had fallen apart. Jono had just walked away, he was now living in seclusion. Everett had gone to college and gotten a teaching job. Angelo had been killed by his old girlfriend Torres. Monet had betrayed them to Emplate, the St. Croix's were now some of the X-men's deadliest enemies. Paige had married Tristan Brawn and was living it up in the lap of luxury.
Now she was back and she had tried to kill Chuck. He was willing to give her a chance to explain herself but it might be after several hours of intensive surgery.
The wind shifted and he had her scent. Charging forward he popped his claws well out of her earshot that seemed to swing at empty air. A cry of pain was heard and Jubilee was suddenly visible. She fired a series of bright paff's into his eyes then sent him down with a darker energy blast, before she took off running.
Logan shook his head as he got up. There had been no holding back there for him, so he wasn't going to do it for her.
"I need to get out of here. It looks like Wolvie isn't going to be as easy going as I thought he was," she whispered into her cloak.
As she ran through the woods, she was aware that Wolverine was chasing her. And he knew the woods, and tracking, and her scent. His movements were not audible to her. She knew she had to make it to the edge of the mansion's barriers and be teleported, or wait for him to make his move. She could see the edge of the fence surrounding this side of the ground when the growling man landed in front of her.
She acted on newfound instincts and the air around Wolverine exploded in plasma. A tree landed on his legs. Knowing this would only stop him for a split second she sprinted toward the property line.
She turned before she stepped across. "Don't mess with me, old man!"
Logan was dumb-founded. His little girl, his angel had turned on him. What could have possibly happen that would make her turn on him.
Eclipse was grateful, she knew she should thank what ever powers that be that she was alive, that is if she still believed in the powers that be. She sighed and sat down in an over-stuffed chair. She looked around her bare apartment. There was just enough to survive. A bed, a chair, a card table and a lamp were the only things filling the room. She knew what had brought her to this. What had brought her to become an assassin for hire?
As she drifted off into her thoughts she began to contemplate what to do next. It was always what ifs that got her at times like this.
What if...GenX hadn't disbanded? What if...Angelo hadn't died? What if...she had told Ange how she really felt? Why that b**ch Monet turned on them just when it seemed she was warming up to her? What if...there was a way she could change it all? Shaking her head these images swirled like a muddy pool before disbursing.
/Quit talkin stupid, Jubes. What good would changing it do? They might be alive and well but you'd still be...a killer, a merc, and an enemy to them./
As she lit her cigarette with a light paff. A nifty trick she'd learned from many years around Gambit, a knock at the door ended her ranting a small envelope was shoved through the mail slot. The note contained a small card and a disc.
The card read:
~*~
Eclipse,
I have what you seek as long as you are willing to play the game until endgame. If you are interested the disc holds the meetings location.
Sincerely,
THE GAMEMASTER
~*~
Jubilee sighed. She'd be there of course. She was just thankful his game had a long time limit. Otherwise she wouldn't be able to eat. Now she had to go see to it her nightcloak got properly repaired.
******
~Welcome Charles Xavier.~
~How did I get on the Astral Plane?~
~I brought you here. Be thankful, because if I hadn't you would be in tremendous pain,~ Gamesmaster told him.
~What happened?~
~Your youngest student ever tried to kill you. She used a clever poison. It wounds you, weakens you to deaths door then goes into remission and lets you heal. When you are healthy again it strikes again. It can do that as many as ten times.~
~Jubilee? Why would she do such a thing?~
~Because she is the player in my new game. How far will someone go to get what they desire.~
~And what does she desire?~
~For things to be the way they were. Allow me to demonstrate. I am already starting to bring her old friends together. Observe.~
******
~This gentleman is the greatest non-mutant computer hacker in the world. Only people with machinery-based powers and Kitty Pryde are better. He is currently researching assassins for hire for his employers, the Brawns. Young Tristan wants to eliminate numerous rivals for power. His wife is handling the hiring of the assassin. She does not wish him to succeed so she will hire Eclipse believing that Jubilee will not fulfill the mission. Her current goals are stymieing her husband's goals.~
*******
Logan had used Cerebro to track down Jubilee's signature. It had located her to within twenty-five miles. He needed someone to help get down the last few miles. All the telepaths were busy or unavailable but he knew someone who could help him locate mutants.
Everett Thomas had told the team that if there was ever a major emergency that he would be willing to help. That was the type of guy he was and Logan couldn't help but feel this was enough of an emergency.
*******
~And what about the others? Monet is our enemy, Jono is a hermit, Angelo is dead.~
~Someone like you knows the importance thought to time. A telepath with enough raw power could reach through time and pull his mind out moments before he died. Say the amount of raw power his best friend possessed. Surely it isn't hard to find a body for a wandering mind. It certainly happens to you people enough.~
~And Monet?~
~There may yet be hope for her.~
~Could you be more enigmatic?~
~I doubt it, with the effort I put into it.~
~So what happens? Jubilee throws away everything she holds dear and you give her back her friends?~
~Perhaps. Or perhaps that will be failure and I will reward her if she is willing to oppose me.~
Jubilee stepped outta her apartment sliding down the fire escape and landing with a solid thud as her feet hit the ground. The jolt woke her up telling her she should be on her toes. She headed for the alleyway. She steps out into the crowd sliding the mirrored shades over her eyes and blends in.
Two and a half blocks and three double backs later. She's finally sure that noone has followed her. The last block and a half of walking to Elmwood and first should be a breeze.
/Techy better be finished with my cloak or he's gonna be a world o' hurt./
She makes one last stop off at O'Dell's and books it the rest of the way until she's standing in front of a brownstone building that's seen better days. She hit the bell twice before the door opened and a silky voice rose from the built in sound boxes.
"Hey Clipsey. Ya bring my stuff?"
"Of course."
"Well come on down then." A kid runs up to Jubilee and takes the bag from her. He looks to be about twelve but looks can be deceiving. The figure before Jubilee was immortal and far worse off than others. Being a mutant was the first of his problems. Being immortal and stuck in the body of a twelve year old was his second.
"So...my stuff ready yet?" She said as she tossed him the other bag with the beer in it.
"Yeah Clipsey it's done. Don't know why you need so much cloaking. Half the stuff on that rig the government don't even know exists."
"Whatever..." Jubes says before activating the nightcloak.
/I bet Logan's look'n for me right now. Let me throw a little kink in his plans./ Activating the newest feature she vanishes from every mutant tracking system on the planet.
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Ten miles away--
/Damnit lost the signal...I guess I gotta do this the old fashioned way./
"He's going to find you." The voice came from a figure in the shadows.
"Go away!" Jubilee didn't even look towards the Voice.
"Sure... yeah, I'll go , going... NOT!" Jubilee didn't answer.
"Ohh so we are here again... ~sigh~ The old I'm*ignoring*you*so*shut*up all over again, yeah RIGHT!"
Jubilee still was quiet "I could go on all night..." the voice sounded amused.
A young Jubilee stepped out of the shadow's wearing a big grin "Wanna bet on how long you *last* this time?"
"Will you leave me alone!" Jubilee screamed and hurled a lamp against here younger self.
The lamp hit the wall behind her. The younger jubilee sighed. "Ok, you're really slipping."
"WHAT DO YOU WHANT FROM ME!!!!" Eclipse screamed, The younger Jubilee smiled.
"Don't look at me, I'm the *figment of you're imagination, *ghost from the past*" she turned her smile in to a grin.
"but that *term* don't help you now... right?" The young Jubilee walked over to the window
"how long do you think he will take... 10 hour's... a day maybe?" she looked out in to the night.
"He won't find us... me!!" She was about to crack open... "He will never find me"
The young jubilee turned her head toward *Eclipse* as she called her self now, frowned "Yeah, right, whatever"
Eclipse frowns throwing a dark burst of energy spinning toward her younger self. It blackens the wall. The younger Jubilee laughs.
"He will find you because, HE'S THE BEST AT WHAT HE DOES!!!"
/I've gotta quit talk'n to myself. I've got places to go./ Eclipse disappears in a swirl of lights.
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Eclipse lands somewhere in the vicinity of the Northern Alps. The wind howls around her as she redials the numbers into her nightcloak. The new teleporter worked like a charm.
/Wolvie's not the only one who's the best at what he does. Techy has skills./
*If you're quite finished Ms. Lee we can begin anew setting you on the path to endgame.* Eclipse is vaguely startled but replies in kind.
*Alright Game Boy let's get on with it.*
*Patience is a virtue Ms. Lee. You have but to finish the remaining tasks and return to where it all began.*
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN RETURN TO WHERE IT ALL BEGAN!?" As she turns she sees no one only a black envelope.
/Damn enigmatic sonuva..../ She is interrupted by a growl behind her. It's too deep for Wolverine that leaves only one other person.
"How's it going Creed?" Eclipse says as she sidesteps his claws. "You're not still mad about that gig I left ya on in Cali are ya? As much as I'd love to stay and play I got a date with a certain group of mutants of your aquaintance. Bye!" Sabertoothe charges passing straight through Eclipse as she ports out.
/I hope Sinny doesn't mind me droppin in./
A black sedan pulled up to the gates of the Westchester mansion in New York. It'd been a while since he'd returned to this place. It held many memories. Some good, some bad, most of a certain young firecracker. For the past one hundred miles Everett had been asking himself why Jubes decided to off the Professor. /She could've just been fed up and went off or something. Maybe it was stress./ Even as he thought this he knew his explanations were hollow. Jubilee never did anything without a reason. He'd made a promise to her and to the others to be here when they needed him and so he was.
/I guess I better ring the bell./ Shutting off the engine he projects hoping to be picked up by the nearest telepath. *Hello*
*Come in Mr. Thomas we've been expecting you.*
Even after the past three years he had never got over the trauma of siphoning Monet's telepathy from her. /Emplate had attacked and wounded Rogue. I still can't believe how easy he got the drop on Rogue. Things might have gone better if someone else had retrieved Rogue. Then I wouldn't have had to synch up with her. If only someone else had been there He wouldn't have been there to make contact when Monet attacked him. I should have let go the contact was too long./ Everett so engrossed with his own thoughts that he never noticed Phoenix walk up behind him.
"Everett it wasn't your fault." The voice more so than the hand on his shoulder alerted him to the fact that he was projecting. "The world is full of 'if-onlys'. Things just happen. Right now we must find a way to deal with Eclipse."
"Yeah, we gotta find her first."
"That's where you come in. We're hop'n that cerebro plus your aura and whatever telepathy you have will be enough to locate her."
Everett put the Cerebro helmet on his head. He focused on directing his telepathy on Jubilee's thought signature. There was nothing. Then he pushed his synchronistic powers out along with his telepathy.
Still nothing.
"Jubilee, I know you're out there," he thought as he strained his powers to the max.
There was a tiny familiar spark.
"I think I found her!" he yelled out. And at that moment, he lost contact. His shoulders slumped and he sighed.
**************
Eclipse teleported and quickly scanned her surroundings, orienting herself.
Suddenly, in the back of her mind, she felt a twinge of something familiar. She recognized it from past battles and practice sequences.
"So, they're sending Everett after me?" she thought.
She bit back the tears that had made their ways to her eyes. _ Everett. _ She thought. She could force the tears back but not the memories. The last battle...the one that had changed everything. Where she had lost everything she held dear to her and when she had changed in front of her family's eyes. The night she had first killed someone.
Eclipse shakes her head but the images keep flowing through her brain. The explosion, the smell of charred flesh, the looks of horror.
"What's wrong, don'tcha like what ya see?" A voice asks from behind her.
"Not you again."
"Who else were you expectin? Maybe you was expectin one of your old partners to show up. Which one could it be this time Sabertooth or the walking mouth. I can't believe you went into business with the guys you and Wolvie used to put a hurtin on. When exactly did you sell your soul?"
"When I felt the other way wasn't working. I've lost too much maybe now I can get something back. I'm outta here!"
Eclipse sparks materializing inside an old warehouse. She blasts away a pile of rubble and heads for a hidden elevator. /The psionic shielding in these doors should cut down on Ev trying to track me until I've finished with Sinney's old files on GenX./
The elevator opens to an old cloning room long since been used. A terminal sits at the other end. The information the Gamemaster gave her said it was still operational. She begins running through all the data; mostly names, dates, government records, etc. /I gotta give him credit Sinister is thorough. Where could Jono be?/
The list continues to flow by. The computer begins to pull up her secondary search. /Hmmm....It seems that someone has a job for me and wants me to meet them in Madripoor. I can pick up a few extra bills. It'll help me alot to track down Jono./
It finally pulls up the last known address of Charles Angellus Evans. A person meeting the description of one Jonathon Starsmore.
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"It's all coming together now can't you see Xavier. As we speak she heads to a reunion with six old friends and destiny."
Images appear before Xavier as he stands beside the Gamemaster in the vastness of the astral plane. An image of Wolverine, Paige, Tristan...the rest swirl away into nothing.
"I can't give away the surprise now can I Charles."
Jubilee looked around the room and touched the cold steel bed that lay in the middle. Xavier watched as she passed out. " What's wrong with her! " he asked. " Nothing... she just experiencing part of her empathy. " Gamemaster said.
Xavier shook his head. "Don't play your games with me. Jubilee's latent abilities would not manifest in empathy. That is the rarest of mental abilities."
The image faded. "If I can't fool you then I may as well try my luck."
*****
Jubilee looked at the address and then set her teleporter coordinates. Her cloak masked her shock when she saw her new employer was Paige.
*****
Paige Brawn went through the dossier one final time. This person Tristan wanted dead was both an underworld rival and a skilled scientist. He had invented a drug that would destroy any altered humans or artificially activated mutants such as Polaris. Tristan wanted him dead and the drug. Paige wanted him alive and the drug destroyed. With Jubilee's code of honor she was sure she could count on that. She didn't know of the changes her old friend had gone through.
******
Monet and Nicole St. Croix flew as if their lives depended on it. Nicole carried an unconscious Claudia. "With the scientist I discovered's drug we can finally free Claudia of the curse Marius inflicted on her by making her an Emplate. This drug will destroy any added genetic touches, restoring her to normal."
"Are we going straight to him? Marius may track us."
"Which is why we are getting help. I've finally found where Jono lives. He is one of the few who can stand up to our brother."
Eclipse thought about leaving but she needed the money and she was curious why her old friend had called on her services.
"Paige, you weren't who I was expecting. I never thought you would need the services of someone like me."
Paige looked at Jubilee timidly, she had changed a lot. She didn't know how to respond to her old friend who used to be so full of joy, but who now it seemed to suck all the warmth and light out of the room. "I have enlisted you on Tristan's behalf. He wants a Dr. Leishner dead. I don't think that killing him is necessary. But I agree with Tristan that his formula is dangerous. I want you to destroy it, but spare the doctor."
"I suppose I get paid either way."
"Well yes, but Tristan wants the drug for himself so you will need to bring back a dummy."
"A dummy, this sounds complicated Paige, if the doctor isn't destroyed he can recreate the formula. I think I should destroy the doctor, destroy the formula and you can present some dummy to your hubby, hmm?"
"No, I don't want the doctor killed, I suppose if you just destroy the formula that will be enough."
"But Paige, what'll dear Tristan think of that. I don't want to get you in trouble with your hubby. What kind of friend would I be if I did that?" Eclipse couldn't help taunting Paige, it was cruel of her, she knew, but Paige was beginning to get anxious and Eclipse just couldn't resist.
"I can handle my husband, thank you Jubilee, I am ready to give you half the money now, and if you want to see the other half, I suggest you do it my way."
"No prob, Paige, and by the way the name's Eclipse, not Jubilee, she died a long time ago. So why don't you tell me more about Dr. Leishner."
"You see Xavier. The pieces have been placed on the board and it is now time to see the game played out." A cocky voice resounds in the vastness of the astral plane.
"Jubilation may indeed carry out the mission but she won't kill Dr. Leishner."
"Maybe not Charles but there are other forces at play also." The images shift to one Jonothan Starsmore, now a hermit living in seclusion on the outskirts of civilization. He stops as an overwhelming presence is felt at the edge of his mind. He turns quickly as an exhausted Monet falls through his roof a foot from where he was standing.
"Help..." She says before collapsing beside her sister.
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"Jean I have an idea. Open your mind to me." A shockwave hits Synch as he begins to do something he never thought was possible. Opening himself so fully with Jean and Cerebro's help allows him to synch with every telepath for fifty miles. The influx of information hits him like a freight train. Images pour into his mind from Jubilee and from Xavier as he begins to assimilate Jubilee's purpose. The connection breaks as he see's Jubilee smile. Then blackness overtakes him.
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"Xavier it looks like the last player has entered the game so I shall leave you to your own thoughts."
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/It looks like they're on to me. I gotta move fast./ Taking the information from Paige in one quick motion Eclipse teleports out. A closed circuit camera zooms in silently taking in the scene as a man watches it from the shadows.
~*~
TBC